Character(s): Souther
Genre: Character study
Notes: This is titled because the first draft was typed on a borrowed smartphone with the autocomplete stuck on. (I actually don't ship Shuu/Souther, though this can be read however you choose ;p.)


Souther rules alone.

He allows himself, out of necessity, to keep amicable relations with a select few. They are worthy above the trash who cower before him or the Nanto generals and students whose loyalty is afforded by his position, for he has chosen them as the ones most able to smooth his taking control as the world burns.

This makes them merely acquaintances to an end, not something to ease the passage of his own life.

Shuu is the same sort of tool, another human body along that road. His betrayal shouldn't sting, predictable as it is after saving Kenshiro. The benevolence star's destiny favors the weakest emotions, and such miserable things have cost him his right hand man, even as he's built the empire destiny calls him to rule. What use is there for family or companionship but as another means of control?

And why is it worth more than him?

He will bury the past—literally. With Shuu, and with the Hokuto brat and his brothers. Souther's future has no room for them, and no room for sentimental nonsense like friendship and love. With this stone, he will exorcise the last vestige of either from his mind.